I think that is totally lender dependent on how they approach that. If I look at the cards I have as my own example, Cap1 won't throw me a bone unless I use a decent portion of my current limit consistently. Citi wants to give me $1,500 every 6 months whether I swipe my card once every two months, or run 2k per month through it. AMEX just gave me a $22,000 increase in one shot on a card I've never spent more than $2,000 on in a single month. Discover is...well they're Discover. Each lender has a different approach, and that approach is also dependent on how they view your individual profile. Lenders don't dish out a massive credit limit expecting you to actually utilize that limit each month, or even a large portion of it. I think those limits are there for you to be able to utilize a healthy, responsible portion of it each month, and pay your balance back. I think most lenders are ok with you having large limits as long as your profile supports it, and you're utilizing your card for normal spend. There are some out there that will CLD you if your spend is super light, but I think that's usually more of an exception than a norm.
IMO the FICO scoring algorithm encouraging low utilization is the reason I want credit limits higher than my spend.
And I don't consider just monthly spend because I need to take advantage of promos where I might charge a few thousand and pay it off over a number of months. Having a 10,000 limit allows a 2,500 charge to stay under recommended 30% utilization compared to a 3,000 or 5,000 limit.
As with the other replies, the answer is, "It Depends!" It depends on the lender. It depends on the strength of your profile. It depends on the age of your account. It depends on your income and your overall debt load as a ratio of DTI.
Some lenders have rewarded me with higher limits, sort of as a perk for being a good long-term customer. Discover is one example for me. I have had lower five-figure balance transfers on my account before which I successfully repaid. In recent years, as my account age reached over 25 years, FICO scores soared over 800, and income climbed well into six figures, they were glad to slowly raise my limit to $50K without significant spending of that amount. Similar case for Bank of America. Capital One made me fight tooth-and-nail to slowly grow a $1K limit to $25K on a card that is now a Quicksilver. That took over a decade at $1500 to $3000 per CLI, at least six months intervals. Chase denied me for CLIs many times over my 20+ year history with them, and I'm not sure if they've ever auto-increased. However, they've been glad to approve me for new cards and I've made a practice of growing my limits with their easy credit limit consolidations. As stated above, Citi seems to grow their cards on their own steady increase with SP's at $1500 to $3000 per CLI, regardless of usage.
On average, I would suggest that if you desire the auto-increases, use those cards moderately-to-heavily as a percentage of existing credit limit. For example, you might think putting $10K spend over a few months on a card is good usage. And it would be for a $5K to $10K card. However, it might be considered lackluster spending on a $30K or $40K limit card, so everything is relative.
Also, getting to know how lenders treat CLIs is important, since they all respond differently. Some will Soft Pull. Some always Hard Pull. Some auto-increase. Some rarely do. Some are generous. Some are more reserved. Some have more well-known limits per card or account. Others are more profile-dependent.
And on average, I will say that it's much easier to get higher limits with high FICOs, low debt, and high income. You can have 850 FICO's but your income and debt load has to be appropriate to get a credit limit past a certain point. That point varies based on the lender's underwriting. Some lenders cap their lending to a particular customer based as a percentage of income, for example 40% or 50%. Some also cap lending to a customer by dollar amount. I have a few accounts where the lender doesn't exceed $25K. Some of my cards started out that high, such as my recent AOD FCU Visa.
I have found that most lenders will allow you to keep high limits without heavy usage as long as you continue to use their cards. I have heard of CLDs sometimes when someone puts very little usage on a card, but I've not experienced it.
Some healthy utilization padding is a good thing. Just keep in mind that if you get many multiples of annual income in credit limits, you may reach a point where lenders may decline you for new credit or give you lower approvals because of your overall limits. So closing unused accounts as you grow your cherished accounts is sometimes a good way to grow your Total Credit Limits (TCL).
